Parkland College 2400 West Bradley Avenue, Champaign, Illinois 61821

Csc 123 Computer Science I, Programming in Java

Course Content and Requirements

Fall 2006

All course requirements that carry a grade will always be announced in-class at least one week in advance, and will be posted on this web site.  There will be no surprises.

Daily Topics Lecture Guides

Labs

A number of labs will be integrated with the lectures.  They will be simple program assignments included on the Daily Topics page for that day.  We will start the labs during class.  You are encouraged to work together and help each other while in class doing the labs.  They can be graded during a subsequent class, or by submission through Angel, as specified on this website.  You will always be given at least a week to complete a lab.  Even though the can be collaborative, you are expected to actually do and fully understand the work you present for grade points (please see Plagiarism policies).  The labs will be directly related to the material covered in the lecture. 

Projects

A number of graded programming projects will be assigned throughout the course. Each project will be specified in detail in a project description web page on this site, including specific grading criteria for earning the points for that project.   Each graded project will be considered due at the date and time scheduled on the project description posted on this website.  The grade will be given and explained during an individual 10 or 15 minute grading session with the student and the instructor reviewing the student's project. The student will then be able to improve the grade by eliminating any deficiencies and meeting again with the instructor any time until the grading dates listed.  The last project will be upgraded only if it is graded before the date of the Final.  The scheduled Final is the absolute last deadline for all graded material.

If you know that you will need to miss a project's interactive grading date, you may have it graded before the scheduled date.  If you miss a project's grading date without prior arrangements, you must contact the instructor and make arrangements to have your project graded as soon as possible.  Part of the published grading criteria for a project may be that it is substantially working at the time of the scheduled the interactive grading with the instructor.

The projects must be designed and coded individually -- there will be no projects done in groups. Students may get as much appropriate help for their projects as they need, but they must actually do and fully understand their own work (please see Plagiarism policies).

Always have complete backups of all your work and retain them until after the end of the semester.   Retaining backups of all your work at all times is a course requirement for all graded work, and your grade may be adversely affected if you do not have a backup if needed.    Also, you should regularly check your grades on Angel, and bring any inaccuracies to my attention as soon as possible.

Tests

There will be a number of tests during the semester based on the readings, class lectures, and in-class labs.  The tests will be reasonably short.  The tests may be administered on your class computer and either graded immediately by the instructor or handed in, or they may be administered using Angel.  Tests will always be announced at least one week in advance, and a description will be posted on this web site.  The description will have a specific description of the skills the test will cover.  You may not make up a test.  

Final

Attendance at this time period is a course requirement and the final must be taken at the scheduled time.  Please plan accordingly and do not schedule any conflicts.